Have you been watching? I have…well, sporadically anyway. I was so motivated by the racing that I had it set in my mind that this week I wanted to teach a profile inspired by this incredible race. Rather than creating my own (we all know most of my free time last week was spent Body Pumping my brains out) I did the only thing I know how: Google it!

In addition to a kick ass TDF profile, I found another great group fitness site: GroupFitPower. For Saturday’s ride I borrowed Krista’s Spinning Profile: TDF 2007, Stage 15 (SEZ). You can find her post about this ride by clicking here…although it was originally designed by Patrick Schutte. Don’t you just love that about the Spinning community? We all genuinely help each other out and in turn, we all become better instructors.

I made a few musical changes & had to eliminate one song completely to adhere to our 45 minute class layout. My playlist ended up looking like this:

I haven’t gone back to Tidal EPC for my Active Metabolic Re-Test (yet.) I got a little out of sync with my training schedule about a week ago (i.e. took about 5 days off). But I’m back on track. My super-elaborate tracking system for remembering which base-building workout I’m supposed to be following :

Hey, if it’s important…it goes on my hand! The good news is that I have noticed a difference in my work-outs. I’m going to stretch out the training just about 1 more week & then head back for re-testing the first week of August. Can’t wait!

Let’s pretend this weekend was last weekend…’mkay? So, Happy 4th of July! Fireworks! BBQ’s! Red-white-blue and other things associated with Independence Day! The highlight of our weekend was a hot little trip to the beach.

Sooo perfect! If I closed my eyes and concentrated real hard, it was like we were back in Mexico. Hmmmm…Mexico.

But, prior to the beach I taught an awesome (little aside here..I think I overuse that word…awesome, awesome, and awesome) ride on Saturday morning. The class was full and the energy was sky high! It was a great ride.

Spinning #63 9 songs, 47 minutes: this is a strength energy zone profile and consists of 2 hills, but not much else. You can find the iTunes playlist here.

Pride—Syntax (6:17) Stay in Seated Climb. Adjust resistance based on HR or perceived exertion. Take a butt break at the 3 minute mark, but settle back after about 30-45 seconds ( I couldn’t find this on Amazon, but it’s an amazing song. Please check it out on iTunes)

High Roller—The Crystal Method (5:30)Seated flat until 1min, let your heart rate settle down. Find your focus, the next hill is beginning now: Turn resistance knob so you have to come out of the saddle. Stand until 3: 38min…then sit. (the song kind of peters out at the 4 minute mark. I fast forwarded to the next song so I wouldn’t lose momentum)

Climbatize—The Prodigy (6:37)Last leg of our final climb. In the saddle for 3 minutes. Shut your eyes, focus on intensity. This will be the most intense of our whole class. Start standing, sit for about a minute ½ way through and finish strong out of the saddle.

With the new WSC-Alexandria Summer Schedule in full effect, here’s my new teaching schedule:

Monday 6:30pm Spinning (Alex will teach tomorrow, but I take over next week)

Tuesday 6:15am Spinning

Saturday 10am Spinning

Saturday 11am Total Body Conditioning (I will be sharing this class with Sara)

And, I personally think this is the most exciting change, I’m going to be teaching Body Pump at XSport Fitnessin Merrifield! Since the pilot BP program at WSC ended about a month ago I feared my Les Mills days were in my past. I was more than a little mopey about it, so imagine my excitement when I heard XSport was hiring! My audition was a couple of weeks ago; I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to jinx it. But it’s official now….my new class is Tuesday at 6:30pm! By the way, Release 74 launches this week, who-hoo!

–you’ll have to excuse me, as I have a little, ahem, memorization of a track or two to take care of tonight.

Happy Monday! I can, with confidence, say that I have fully recovered from WSSC…it took sleeping in until 10am on Sunday morning (scandalous), but I feel totally back to normal. Oh, and a trip to our neighborhood pool helped a little with my recovery as well…which I think may need to be a weekly occurrence. With the proper amount of sun block, of course.

(can you guess who’s head is peaking over the side?)

Saturday’s class was the first profile I have created and taught since WSSC; those of you who were there may have noticed some differences, namely the music. Little more trance/techno than typical for me.

Of the many realizations I had at WSSC, one of them was the ability to really lose yourself on the bike and find your zone when the music was right. I found that during the rides where there were a lot of lyrics competing for my thoughts I couldn’t as easily get into the zone, but when you just had a beat to move to (i.e. Taiko drumming) my mind shut down & I was able to focus… which is part of the reason I moved away from my typical music selections for this playlist. Besides, it’s a good thing to mix it up a little every now and then….keeps them guessing!

Another WSSC conclusion I came to was remembering and appreciating how much fun it is to ride as a participant. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching…I would be happy as a clam if I could teach spinning 8 hours a day…but there’s a different perspective and energy when you are part of the audience. No pressure, no thinking, just riding. And so, on Saturday for our final working song I decided to jump off my stage bike and join the group. And turn my mic off. It was fantastic! What a different outlook. But what I liked best was the feeling of riding with a group, really hearing the pedals and the breathing. Awesome.

You will not find an iTunes playlist for Saturday’s ride. A lot of the songs came from this CD (you can buy it here)

Eclipse (All Yours)—Metric (3:45)Same resistance. Steady pace at this resistance…be honest. Fine tune your pedal stroke. Accelerate with the music (seated or standing, your choice.) Quick drink at the end if you need it.

Superstylin’—Groove Armada (6:01)Big hill…3 tweaks to the top, start right away with the first resistance change. At 2 min dial in 2nd resistance change. At 4min give me that 3rd and final resistance change. If you need power—do your thing out of the saddle.

Lay It Down—Catalyst (5:27)Melt into the saddle…seated climb. Add resistance to force your feet to slow. We will keep this resistance the whole climb so choose wisely. It’s all about endurance….physically and mentally.

Hey there! Look at me, I’m actually posting something! So sorry about the delay. I’ll explain what I have been up to at the end of the profile (other than watching hours of the Lost finale). But I will give you a hint…it has something to do with filling my grocery cart with stuff like this:

I felt so guilty buying some of this (did you see those Lean Pockets…if you know me at all, you know that is not something I purchase often, or ever.)

Okay, enough stalling, lets get on with the show. This is Spinning profile #58. The playlist can be found on iTunes iMixes by clicking here.

11 songs, 46.4 minutes Intervals mixed with 2 longish hills…one at the beginning, one at the end.

Walls—Shout Out Louds (3:21)Spin it out and recover for the first 1:30 (longer if you need it). Find a tension where you feel comfortable and just slightly out of breath. You should be to smile! Faster at 2min (you’ll hear it in the music.)

True Faith—Anberlin (3:42)Add some more tension, take a big deep breath and push the cadence at the chorus…all the way to the next verse.

Stay—The Attorneys (4:41) Keep the tension where it was from the last song—we’re rolling right into our next set of stairs. Advanced riders…bump up the tension. 30 seconds in 30 seconds out (this is a great song, but I can’t find it on Amazon any where…sorry guys!)

Go—Mustard Plug (2:08)Last effort. Lighten up, have a seat if you aren’t already there. Imagine yourself shot from a cannon…BOOM! Take a big breath and GO! Push through all the way till the song ends. It’s the only way to get stronger. GOOOO!

Okay, so here is the new and good stuff that has made my life sooooo busy (in a good way) : it’s called getting my new business off the ground. That’s right! MY NEW BUSINESS: Soma Solutions. We are officially open! You can check out our website:http://www.soma-solutions.com/ to see what we are all about.

This is my new home away from home:

And that grocery cart full of food (some healthy, some not-so-much) has been transformed into my nutrition education room:

So what exactly will I be doing? You’re looking at your new Fitness Nutrition Coach/Health Counselor. I will be working with people on how to improve their diet and lifestyle. This really is a life-long dream for me. I am so jazzed about being able to counsel others around food and lifestyle choices…supporting them to create happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

And the icing on the cake is this amazing distance learning process I have enrolled in. (I know I’m not supposed end a sentence in a preposition, but I wasn’t sure how else to write that….hey, I’m studying nutrition, not grammar.) Though I have a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, am a Registered Nurse and have a Fitness Nutrition certification…I want to know more! The answer to that need came in the form of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. This is such an amazing program & I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would. It’s so awesome and makes me miss college a little.

So that’s what is going on with me. You will likely hear much more about all of this in the near (and far) future. In the meantime, please check out our website and let me know what you think!

As you have probably figured out, holidays for me are associated with some sort of dietary indulgence/sweet treat….and this weekend was no different. As much as I wanted to handout Cadbury marshmallow peeps to my dedicated spinners on Saturday morning…have some sugar, corn syrup, gelatin & a bunch of artificial flavors… I just couldn’t & wouldn’t do that.

The twins were even nice enough to individually wrap each little snack bite so our sweaty post-ride fingers wouldn’t get sticky as we were reaching into the goodie bags.

Thank you Michelle & Lori! Check out their blog for their story & more info on eating raw:Pure2Raw.

A lot of exciting changes have been happening in my life lately. Which is all good…except those things left me a little short on time this week to create a new profile & playlist that was worthy. I decided to use one from Jan 9th with a few modifications. It was originally intended to be ridden as high intensity sliding intervals. But I wasn’t getting that vibe from the class on Saturday. Instead I just taught it like a good old fashioned interval class. The profile is 4 repeating blocks of work, each with same sequence of movements and a recovery in between.

As I mentioned at the end of class on Saturday, most of my playlists I like…but some of them…some of them I love. This is one of those that I love!

And so, the eggs have been hunted. The chocolate bunnies have been eaten. And the ___________ (insert drink of your choice…for me, the summer Sangria made an early appearance this weekend) has been drunk. Easter is officially over.

This entire past week I have been driving a rental car. The Jeep is in the shop…more on that in a second. When I get in the rental and turn the key a very distinct tone chimes: “do do do, do do do” while simultaneously reminding me I’m driving a Ford Focus.

Except this “do do do” reminds me of the first lines of Remy Zero’s Gramary: Here they come, here they come. Every single time I turn on the car… Here they come, here they come. Here they come and they might as well. I can’t help myself from singing it, can.not.turn.off the mental playlist in my head. Every single time I get in my car I must sing this song (usually out loud). So of course I had to include it in my actual Spinning playlist this week…you know, just to torture myself a bit more.

Now to address why the Jeep has been in the shop. There was a small incident at IKEA involving a cement pillar. Damn that pillar for sneaking up and scaring me like that. There I was innocently backing out of a parking spot (okay, maybe I was in a bit of a hurry) when CRUNCH! my Jeep abruptly came to a stop. I was stuck, like really wedged in there.

So here’s my dilemma: do I continue reversing or would pulling forward be best? Either way I was going to have to apply some gas ‘cause I’m truly stuck. I decided to reverse…which may not have been the wisest choice…….

I’d like to dedicate this week’s playlist to my little Ford Focus rental. Spinning #52 12 Songs 47 minutes. You’ll find a little bit of everything in this profile as well as a couple of hills for strength/endurance thrown in at the end.

Go Go Go—John Murphy (2:11)Oh the drama. Very steep, very short seated climb. We have 4 chances to add resistance and climb to the top…add tension every 30 seconds.

Quiet Little Voices—We Were Promised Jetpacks (4:21) Out of the saddle running with resistance x 1 minute….seated climb x 1 minute….lighten up for active recovery x 1 minute….add tension back on and start running with resistance at 3 minutes through the end of the song.

Baptized By Fire—Spinnerette (4:35)Stay in your seated climb x 1 minute. Running with resistance x25 seconds (on the chorus). Seated climb to 2:05…come up to a run with resistance until 2:35. You guessed it, sit back down and move those pedals…standing run at 3:15 through the end of the song (or until the music slows)

Old White Lincoln—The Gaslight Anthem (3:30)Recover x 1:30, then right back to work. Medium tension…pick up the pace. Advanced riders…make it just a little heavier (like you are riding into a headwind). Slow down a little after the chorus.

Hearing Damage—Thom Yorke (5:05)Seated climb x 2 minutes, standing climb x 2 minutes….last minute is your choice of seated or standing. (hmmmm, can you guess which DVD and corresponding soundtrack has been in rotation in my house lately?)

Gramary—Remy Zero (5:16)Grab a quick drink with a medium resistance. Our approach road to our last climb is the first 1 minute. Seated climb x 1 minute. Standing climb (breathe to find your own inner rhythm) for final 3:16. All the way to the end. Advanced riders add a little more resistance every minute.

Next week is Easter, but I will be teaching our 10am Saturday Spinning. Lord knows I’m going to need a little extra calorie burn to overcome my Easter-arch nemesis: marshmallow and chocolate…which you can now find like this:

(I think they may be trying to kill me…but oh what a sticky-sweet death it will be)